Adventures of a Queer Indo-Fijian

He has lived in the United States continuously for the past 27 years. He is the proud father of six United States citizen children and his wife has been approved for permanent residency. But even as his family has legalized their status, Anees Sous is scheduled for deportation on January 20, 2010. His crime? He entered and overstayed a student visa back in 1982 a few months too late for the 1986 amnesty.

Since then, Anees has exhausted all possible remedies, and appealed the fact that he got left out of the I-130 petition filed for his wife, but the courts have refused to grant him relief.

Over the years, Anees has operated a small trucking business and been a strong member of the Dearborn community in Michigan. After living here as a non-criminal resident for 27 years, contributing to our economy and supporting his family financially, how does deporting Anees for the sake of “following the law” make any sense?

Anees and his family, caught up in our broken immigration system, represent the pressing need for comprehensive immigration reform solutions. The only way to save Anees from going back to Palestine and not seeing his family for another 10 years is a deferred action granted by the Department of Homeland Security. Over the past few months, DHS has granted deferred actions to several exemplary long-time residents. There is no reason to deny Anees that exception and to keep this family together. Time is running out. Please act today to keep Anees with his family.